Saturday

Sep 8, 2018 at 9:40 PMSep 9, 2018 at 12:08 AM

Texas Tech receiver De'Quan Bowman has made his presence felt in the return game each of the Red Raiders' first two contests this seasons.

Bowman, who returned a kickoff 49 yards in the opener against Mississippi, set up a touchdown with a 49-yard punt return in the Red Raiders 77-0 rout of Lamar on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium. It was the longest punt return by a Tech player during the Kliff Kingsbury coaching era.

"He's a guy who's stuck around for three years and now getting the opportunity to show what he can do," Kingsbury said. "That's two big returns in two games and hopefully that continues."

Bowman's runback to the Lamar 6-yard line set up a DeMarcus Felton touchdown run on the next play that made it 14-0.

Marked improvement

Kingsbury alluded to possibly replacing Dominic Panazzolo with newcomer Reed Bowman at the start of last week, but the Red Raiders' senior punter produced punts of 44, 50 and 47 yards on Saturday. That was a rebound from the week before when he averaged 34.4 yards on five attempts, including 33- and 11-yarders.

"It was much improved," Kingsbury said. "He's got to continue to do that. He can be a big weapon, not only in the open field, but when we're down close, he has a good touch for those pooch punts, and he has to continue to be consistent."

Panazzolo's first punt was downed at the Lamar 14-yard line, and the 50-yarder went out of bounds at the 15. The coverage unit downed his 47-yard punt at the 2, but De'Quan Bowman was flagged for kick-catch interference.

Injury update

Knigsbury said Da'Leon Ward (groin) could have played, running back Tre King (knee) could not, but both Tech running backs are expected back quickly.

Asked the severity of their injuries, Kingsbury said, "Not very."

Starting left tackle Travis Bruffy sat out with a leg injury, according to a Tech official, with redshirt freshman Dawson Deaton starting in Bruffy's place.

"He should be back sooner than later," Kingsbury said.

Wreaking havoc

Tech rush end Tony Jones has been disruptive through two games.

The second-year transfer from Butler (Kan.) Community College collected six tackles, including two tackles for loss and a sack, against Ole Miss. He got credit for seven tackles (three solo, four assists), again with two behind the line and a sack, against Lamar.

"Last year, it was a very big learning experience for me," Jones said. "Growing up and even in junior college, I wasn't in the schemes of a lot of stuff, so when I got here it was more of a learning experience.

"Now I’ve been in the system for a while, so I feel like I can play off instinct and do what I’m capable of doing instead of thinking too much. So I feel very good about myself this year."

Jones shares snaps at rush end with Kolin Hill.

"Tony’s gotten better and better since he's been here," Kingsbury said. "Last year, I felt like it was moving pretty fast for him. This year, he seems to understand the scheme, and he's pretty athletic off the edge and seems to gets his hands on the football. He and Kolin are a nice one-two punch there at rush, so hopefully he continues to evolve and continues to make plays."

There was also a shakeup in the defensive front four with Quentin Yontz starting at end in place of Eli Howard. Howard was in the game early, however, and recorded a sack early in the third quarter.

Celebration time

Texas Tech hit the 70-point mark with a 48-yard interception return touchdown by cornerback Adrian Frye. Lamar quarterback Jordan Hoy's pass glanced off intended receiver Martell Hawthorne, and Frye grabbed the deflection and took it up the visitors' sideline.

"It was real exciting," Frye said, "crossing the goal line, turning around and seeing my teammates just as excited as I was, happy to congratulate me. Joe Wallace actually tackled me over there. It was the thrill of a lifetime."

That could have been perilous for Frye, considering Wallace is a 315-pound defensive tackle.

"I told him once we got back to the sideline, 'You can jump with me, but don’t tackle me next time,'" Frye said.

In context

Tech's 77-0 victory was the program's first shutout since a 62-0 win against Southeastern Louisiana in 2006 and its most points since an 80-21 conquest of Sam Houston State in 2005.

It was Tech's widest margin of victory since a 79-0 shutout of Trinity in 1932. It also matched the second-largest margin of victory in a shutout by a Big 12 team since the conference's inception, behind Oklahoma State's 84-0 rout of Savannah State in 2012 and equaling Oklahoma's 77-0 blowout of Texas A&M in 2003.

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